The Flight
by leabea17
Summary: This is what i think should come after The Recconing. It picks up about three days after the end of the final book with our favorite group of rebels on the run. I LOVE the Chloe Derek pairing so yes, there will be a fair amount of that. I hope you enjoy!
1. Chapter 1

Chapter **ONE**

I writhed and squirmed against the padded walls of the coffin. I could feel myself being lowered into the ground and I started to struggle harder. I scratched and clawed at the inside of the lid and screamed my head off. "Derek!" I screamed. "SIMON! TORI!" My ears echoed with the sound of my nails catching and tearing on the fabric walls of my newest cell. Then all of the sudden, the sounds of my own struggle were not the only ones. A horribly familiar scratching noise came from all around me, seeming to seep through the walls of my coffin and under my skin. My pine prison began to crack and crumble in on me from all sides and suddenly I was wishing to be trapped inside again. Alone.

I felt something crawling up my arm and made the mistake of looking down to see the undead spider the size of my fist dragging its decaying body towards my face, leaving chunks of hair in its wake. It didn't take long for me to realize that this was not the only one. They erupted from every crack and seam; spiders, mice, even a few rats. Something scampered across my forehead and into my hair and I let out another scream that I couldn't believe was actually coming form _me_. My body started to twist and spasm again as I tried as hard as I could to get away from the critter zombies that had now almost completely filled the coffin.

I tried to smash the bugs against my skin and when they didn't die I conceded to scraping them off of me with what was left of my nails. "Chloe stop!" screamed a familiar voice. I felt two hands that I could not see grasp me by the shoulders and push me against the bottom of the coffin, pinning my arms to my side and leaving me defenseless. I screamed louder and fought harder, desperate to break free of my bonds before I was completely sealed in by the dirt being piled on top of me. I bit at the invisible hands and the voice that accompanied them swore, but they didn't relinquish their grip. I squeezed my eyes closed, my face screwing up with concentration as I tried to force whatever spirit held me from its body again.

"CHLOE! CHLOE NO!" It was a different voice calling to me now, a woman's. "Chloe you need to send it back!" she yelled. My eyes flickered open to find Tori leaning over me, her face inches from mine. "Chloe, Chloe send it back!" she said, not even bothering to try and mask the urgency behind her demand. Derek had released my shoulders and now hovered beside the bed, the look of concern he was giving me mingled with some other emotion, one that I wasn't used to seeing on Derek. Could it be fear, maybe? A fresh wound on his left hand was oozing blood. When he noticed me looking, he wiped it clean, revealing the two perfect semicircles of a bight mark. Our eyes met and I blushed, silently telling him I was sorry. He shook his head, telling me not to worry about it.

"CHLOE!" Tori snapped, redirecting my attention to the quivering clump of fur pulling itself through the open door and towards the bed where I was now sitting upright and wide awake. The raccoon lifted its face, flashing two empty eye sockets that crawled with maggots. The animal clawed at the bed ruffle and tried to pull itself up onto the comforter. Tori jumped backward from her spot beside me and backed up against the wall. The raccoon had made progress, it was now working its way across the comforter, edging unnervingly close to my feet and I pulled them away before its decaying paws could make contact. Still it kept coming.

"Stop" I commanded, trying very hard to make my tone even and confident. It stopped and looked up at me with that eyeless stare. As usual, I couldn't help but feel guilty for returning that poor spirit to this horrible body. I squeezed my eyes closed again and focused on releasing raccoon. _Release, release, release, _I thought over and over. I pictured lifting a transparent spirit from the mangled body that sat at my feet. _Release _I thought, _release._ The body went limp, toppling across my bare ankles. Derek reached forward and grabbed it by the neck. He walked to the door, still standing open, and threw it over the banister of the tiny balcony in front of our adjoined motel rooms. Derek came back into the room and stood with his back to the door, watching me carefully.

For the first time I noticed that my arms were bleeding as vigorously as Derek's hand, tattooed with scratch marks I assumed I had inflicted on myself. My aunt had noticed too and was looking at the worriedly. Derek's face almost matched hers to a T as he scrutinized my wounds. Suddenly the door swung open, hitting Derek full in the back and knocking him forward. He caught himself on the edge of my bed as Simon came hurtling through the doorway, his father on his heels. "We heard screaming," Mr. Bae said. "Is everyone ok?"

"Yeah, we're ok." Derek said. "Just a bad dream but we're all ok…" he let his sentence trail off, realizing that he hadn't yet given me his usual damage assessing once over. He held me at arms length and examined me carefully before proclaiming that I was in fact, alright. Aunt Lauren, however, didn't seem quite as fine as the rest of us. For Simon, Tori and Derek who were used to seeing me raise the dead, accidentally and on rare occasion, intentionally, this night's occurrence was one of the less traumatic. But Aunt Lauren had only seen me do this once before and it was with a body that had been dead only minutes; much less disgusting. However, if my aunt now thought I was some kin of super freak, she was doing a good job of hiding it. She came and sat next to me on the bed and pushed my sweaty hair off of my face.

"So," Simon said, "what did you dream?" I told everyone, what id seen and Mr. Bae watched me with a look of true interest playing across his face.

"Was this the first time you summoned in your sleep?" he asked. I shook my head, remembering the time in the warehouse a few weeks back.

"She summoned some dead bats in her sleep once," Simon explained. Mr. Bae continued to look me over.

"Ok," he finally said. "So in your dream, you were trying to expel a spirit from its body so that it wouldn't hurt you, correct?" I nodded. "I think that maybe you were being to general." He paused, trying to figure out a better way to explain himself. "I think," he began again, "that what may be happening is that when you are afraid, you send out something of a general cry for help. Because of your powers, this, signal is able to reach the dead more easily than the living. The animals that you've summoned could have been reacting to what they thought was a summons and come to your aid, so to speak."

The more I considered this, the more it seemed to make sense. I looked at Derek for reassurance, but his face gave me no answers. His eyes told me he was deep in thought, that weird look id seen earlier once again making an appearance. In other words, it was clear he was totally tuned out of our conversation.

"Now I don't know much abut necromancers," Mr. Bae admitted, "but it is a theory." He looked at me and said "I'll see if I can get you some reading material on the subject."

I forced a smile, "Thanks," I said. He put his hand on my shoulder reassuringly before he stood up. Derek snapped back to reality and looked at his dad, something else catching his eye behind him.

"Chlo, did you take any of these tonight?" Derek shook the bottle of sleeping pills that was now sitting on my bedside table. I nodded. "Don't," he said, his voice assuming that bossy superior tone I had barely heard in days. I gave him a warning look that said _lets not start with that_. He eased up a little bit, his eyes softening, but he was still adamant.

"I didn't like not being able to wake you up," he said. I nodded. He took the pills into the bathroom and I heard them rattling in the bottle, then the toilet flush. I sighed; well there went any chance for a good nights sleep. Mr. Bae took one last look at me and asked if I was sure I was okay before suggesting that I try to get some more sleep and excusing himself to do the same.

Simon followed his dad back to the guys room and reluctantly, Derek brought up the rear, sneaking one last look at me as he went. Tory got back into her bed and rolled onto her side so her back faced me. Aunt Lauren kissed my forehead and then did the same. I closed my eyes and tried to go back to sleep.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter TWO

In the morning we stopped at a Wal-Mart. After three days of Tori's insistence, Mr. Bae had agreed to get me a cell phone.

"So that you won't look like a total loony toon when you talk to a ghost in a public place," she explained. "You can just take it out and act like your talking on it so people don't stair." As if I couldn't figure it out for myself. In fact, Tori had managed to convince Mr. Bae that we should each have one, restricted to be able to call only each other of course.

As usual I was confined to the car while everyone went inside. There was always the chance that one of the MISSING fliers bearing my face had been distributed to the cashiers or that someone had seen my picture on a bulletin board. This time I was left with Tori for company. She wasn't particularly pleased with this, given that this trip was her idea, but someone had to be on Chloe watch and unfortunately for her, it was Tori's turn.

We sat in silence at first, Tori staring out her window while I picked at my fingernails. When Tori finally spoke there was an edge to her voice and I attributed this to a lack of sleep, one that was my fault. The sun was barely up and the dashboard clock read 6:12. _Great_ I though, _this is gona be a fun day_.

"What did you do to Derek last night?" she asked, or maybe demanded would work better. I looked at her, confused, and then I remembered that look that had distorted his face the night before; that dazed and fearful look. I shook my head, trying too hard not to make eye contact. I knew I'd done something, probably something bad, but I didn't know what exactly that had been. I was embarrassed though, I knew that much. I was getting sick of myself; all I seemed to be good for lately was screwing things up. Id set in motion the chain of misfortunes that befell us at the safe house, spooking Margaret and warding off any other potential allies. I frequently put myself into situations where in trying to help, I just put the others in danger. Id hurt Simon… I was sick of myself so I could only imagine how the others must have been feeling about me, and everything I had been imagining was there, reflected in Tori's face when I finally looked up at her.

"I don't know," I told her. She looked skeptical. "I don't know what I did," I repeated. "I wish I did but I don't." Tori bit her lip, thinking about what she was going to say next; assessing whether it was really necessary I thought.

"He looked like he'd been shot," she said rather bluntly, apparently deciding that it was necessary. I disagreed. My stomach sank and I felt my cheeks flush with heat. Tori looked down, seeming to regret this last comment. "Maybe he was just worried about you," she suggested. "Or the raccoon thing spooked him. Like you know how animals have that super sense for danger and stuff?" She cut herself off seeing the look of utter disbelief that I was sure now occupied my face. She shrugged content with having tried to amend and looked back toward the window.

Annoyed, I did the same, glairing down pedestrians through the tinted windows of Mr. Bae's van as they passed by, oblivious to my scrutiny. As I scanned the parking lot, I noticed a Barns & Noble nestled in the corner of the Wal-Mart plaza. I remembered what Mr. Bae had said about finding me some reading material. We were trying to stay on the down low which meant going into as few stores as possible. What if I didn't get another opportunity after today? I glanced over at Tori who was fidgeting in her seat. I popped the little lock tab up and it clicked, making her look up.

"No. No no no. Not on my watch you don't," she napped. "I don't need your boyfriend using my head as a chew toy thank you." I opened the door testing my limitations. She glared at me.

"I'm going to Barn & Noble," I told her. "You can come if you want. You are on Chloe duty," I reminded her. "If you wana do your job then your gona have to follow me. I'll tell Derek it was my idea so he doesn't kill you." I slid out of the van and my feet hit the pavement. I looked back over my shoulder. Tori had unbuckled herself and was crawling across the seat to follow me. I grinned.

"Move," she ordered. "If I'm coming with you I'm not letting you waist my time too." I could be wrong but I thought I saw her smile, just a little. I looked around to make sure that Derek wasn't coming back yet and seeing that the coast was clear we sprinted through the front door.

There was barely anyone in the book store, probably because it was barely six a.m. We worked our way to the back of the store, weaving through the isles and scanning for anything that could be of potential use to us. I searched the shelves keeping in mind a conversation I'd had with Mr. Bae a few days ago as we made our way into Pennsylvania.

"You'd be surprised," he'd joked. "A lot of the books written about Supernaturals that see the most ridiculous actually have the most bases in reality. Allegedly, some of the most well known fantasy writers have been supernaturals themselves. I read an article that suggested that J.R.R. Tolkien was actually a telekinetic half demon." He'd laughed dismissively at this theory and I had redirected the conversation, asking about the supernatural news paper in which he'd read this.

By the time we were done we had collected one copy of _The Silver Bullet,_ _New Moon _and one of _Eclipse_, some series about vampires and werewolves (for Derek), the first Harry Potter book (for Simon and Tori), a book of ghost stories (for me), and several volumes of mythology from various cultures and places all over the world. I'd also grabbed Simon a book of Hebrew translations, remembering him telling me how a lot of spells were in that language and how much easier it would be for him to cast could he speak it. This was my peace offering, or maybe more of an apology to him.

We were heading towards the front of the store when I became aware of someone, or something, behind me. I stopped cold, waiting and watching as Tori approached the check out. A hand reached in front of me, holding out a copy of _Forbidden Rights: A Necromancers guide to the fifteenth century._ I jumped feet in the air and Mr. Bae grinned at me.

"You forgot this one," he said, adding it to my pile. He didn't look angry, amazingly enough. In fact he was holding several books of his own, the top one _The Book of Werewolves_. I smiled back and we walked to the register to join Tori. She and I each pulled out our wads of cash but Mr. Bae waved it away and paid for the books. "I wouldn't have my own kids paying for books," he said, glancing at Tori. I was wondering if he'd told her yet as we left the store and headed back to the van. I decided that he hadn't because I thought (I could have been mistaken) that Tori and I were close enough now that she would tell me if something like that had happened.

I looked up as we crossed the parking lot to see Derek leaning against the van, arms crossed and a brooding look on his face. The second he caught me looking he bolted at us, looming feet taller than either Tori or myself.

"WHAT THE HELL DID YOU THINK YOU WERE DOING?!" he roared. An elderly woman pushing a shopping cart stared at him and he backed down, not wanting to draw more attention to us. "Get in the car," he ordered as he took my bag of books for me and lead me back to the van. I looked over my shoulder at Tori who was laughing quietly to herself as she followed. Derek pulled the middle seat forward and ushered me into the way back row. He climbed in next to me and snapped the seat back into place. Torie and my aunt shared the middle row while Simon and his dad took the front.

Derek watched me closely, as if I would bolt from the moving car at any second. I watched back, beginning a string contest that I hoped would lighten the mood. It wasn't working. "Why would you do that?" he growled quietly. "Do you have any idea how scared I was when I got back and you weren't in the car? What if someone from the Edison group had been in there and seen you? Or if someone from the pack and smelled me on you?"

"Aren't we kind of out of their jurisdiction?" I asked. He shook his head. "We're out of the New York clan's territory," he said. "Their like the werewolf mafia. There are branches all over the country, wherever there's a concentration of our kind there's a pack."

"Great," I muttered. "More people trying to kill us." He sighed, the anger dissolving back into worry.

**. . .**


	3. Chapter 3

I keep forgetting to add the disclaimer so here it is. Better late than never I suppose. I own none of these characters, unfortunately…

Chapter **THREE**

After our six a.m. pit stop, we drove straight through the rest of the day. Simon distributed the cell phones as we bumped down the highway. Derek was still upset with me for my little excursion and I could see that he wasn't going to let it go too easily. Simon and his father talked quietly in the front seat while Tori pretended not to know any of us and Aunt Lauren slept against her window. Somewhere between Allentown Pennsylvania and Wheeling West Virginia I decided that she had the right idea. I leaned my head back against the seat and closed my eyes. Derek's hand slipped over mine, gripping it a little more tightly than I thought was necessary, holding me captive just incase I decided to jump from the moving car.

I nodded off quickly stayed asleep until we reached our destination. I opened my eyes again just as we were pulling into the parking lot of an old colonial converted into an inn. Aunt Lauren checked us in and made dinner reservations in the tiny restaurant for 7:00. The place was eerily quiet and almost empty; our only fellow occupants were the tree woman that made up the kitchen staff and a quiet middle aged man that seemed to keep to himself.

Seeing as it was only just after six, Tori and I headed up to our room to ditch our bags and get a little out-of-car rest before dinner. Our room was on the second floor, just up one of brightly lit stairs. But despite the plentiful florescent lighting, the old manor gave me a serious case of the heeby geebys: a regular haunted house if you asked me, complete with creaky stairs and shadows that loomed menacingly in every corner. Thanks to Aunt Lauren and our stop this morning, we each now had several items of Wal-Mart brand clothing stuffed into identical black backpacks. Tori and I had also each been awarded a hair brush and some lip balm and eyeliner, making me grateful that my aunt had been the one to do the shopping. I used my new hair brush as I stood in front of the mirror. My hair was incredibly knotted and still incredibly black. I now looked like a necromancer "should," washed out and gothic. I could see Tori's reflection behind my own, watching me tug at my charcoal locks with distaste, and then shot up, suddenly remembering something. She rummaged through her back pack and pulled out a white box covered in tiny writing. Se rotated it so that I could see the picture on the front as well as the L'Oreal label across it. Hair dye! The lady on the box sported a warm honey colored do with thick layers that fell around her face in shiny ribbons.

"I thought this would make you look less like one of the undead," Tori said smiling at me. "So I asked your aunt to pick some up this morning." I ignored her jab at my current hair color, too grateful to really care. She gave me careful instructions about how get the black dye out sent me to toil away in our bathrooms tiny shower. There were two bottles of shampoo and two of conditioner perched on the ledge where the soap dish also sat and I resolved not to use it all up, even if it meant disobeying Tori's strict orders. I knew shed be more pissed should I use up her share than if I rinsed and repeated one less time.

I toweled my hair dry, as ordered, and unlocked the door for my self-appointed hair dresser who waltzed in with purpose and arranged the array of heir care products that she had pulled from the box on the edge of the sink. She lathered up my hair with cream dye and my nose wrinkled at the smell. She ignored my blatant discomfort and continued on her merry way, separating and painting each individual strand of my hair. The fifteen minutes I was forced to sit on the toilet seat lid while the dye soaked in was a welcome relief after hair dresser Tori's anything but light and gentle touch. She left me to go watch the small TV set seated happily on an old table back in our room and I took the opportunity to open the bathroom window. The cool spring air filled my nostrils and filtered out some of the horrible hair dye stench that was swirling around the bathroom. I sat back down on the toilet and waited.

A gust of wind made the shower curtain rustle and chilled me all the way through to my bones. I watched my toes trace the tile pattern on the floor to pass the minutes and then I took to tearing of squares of toilet paper and folding them into as many pieces as I could. I remembered hearing that you could never fold a piece of paper in half more than seven times but I was unsure if this applied only to regular paper. I had managed to fold one into 9 pieces when Tori popped her head in and commanded me back into the shower. As she left, she flipped on a light switch that I hadn't before noticed, illuminating the inside of the shower that had bee dark for my first cleansing. I turned on the water, closed the door and stripped off my towel.

I climbed back into the shower and squeezed my eyes closed; heading Tori's warning about how much hair dye could burn. I scrubbed at my scalp until I was sure there could be no more cream left on it and shoved my face under the running water before opening my eyes.

I stifled a horrified scream as I found myself face to face with what I had not seen before in the dark shower. Another girl, probably about by age, dangled stark naked from a crudely tied noose that hung from the curtain rod. The tip of her tongue lolled lazily from one corner of her bluish lips and her eyes bulged from her head, like she'd seen a ghost. Haha, ironic huh? The girls harms were tattooed with a crisscross pattern of scars, signaling me that perhaps this had not been her first attempt at suicide. I backed away slowly, the backs of my legs slamming into the wall of the tub. I tried to catch myself but there was nothing to hold on to and I toppled out of the shower onto my ass, dripping and shaking as I watched her stand on the very ledge that I had just fallen over, fasten the noose around her neck and jump to her death again and again.

The silent replay of the girl's death terrified me but at the same time mesmerized me. Who was this girl and what had happened to her that upset her enough to kill herself? I was so sickly transfixed by the scene that I didn't notice Tori who had thrown open the door when she heard me hit the floor, worried id hurt myself and worried that Derek would hurt _her_ should any harm come to me on her watch.

"Chloe?" she asked quietly as she watched me watch what to her was just the empty space above the shower. I snapped back to reality, and spun around, grabbing for my towel to cover my nakedness. My embarrassment was reflected as she turned around and left the bathroom, slamming the door behind her. I pulled on my jeans and a clean t-shirt and hung my towel on the hook by the door, trying hard not to look back at the death scene replaying over and over in the shower. I slipped out of the bathroom and grabbed my brush off the dresser. Tori ignored me as I ran it through my newly colored hair. She acknowledged me only when I said how much I liked the color.

"I knew it would look good with that pale complexion of yours," she said, grinning a little. He smile faded quickly though and she opened her mouth to ask the question I had know was coming since she saw me on the bathroom floor. "What'd you see Chloe?" she asked. I bit my lip and thought about my close encounter of the ghostly kind; my _very_ close encounter. I regaled Tori with the lovely details of my eventful shower, down to the crisscross scars on the dead girl's arms and the conviction with which she had jumped to her death again and again.

Tori shuddered. "Why do you think she did it?" she asked, voicing my own question.

"I don know," I told her. "But maybe we can figure it out. There could be old pictures around this place, like the pictures of Roy the half Demon in the safe house." She nodded and we made plans to go sleuthing, but it would have to wait until after dinner because it was now 7:00 and I could hear my aunt calling. Besides, I thought maybe I should fill in the boys. Tori wasn't their biggest fan but even she would have to admit that if we ran into another psychotic half-demon ghost, it would be nice to have a werewolf around for protection.

**. . .**


	4. Chapter 4

Sorry for taking so long to update! I have been crazy busy between our school musical going up last week and an insane bombardment of tests... I can't wait for summer break.

* * *

Chapter **FOUR**

No matter how hard I tried to make our little bathroom crisis seem like no big deal, adding little half laughs and eye rolls at various intervals throughout its retelling, Derek could tell that it had spooked me and he wasn't amused. When he demanded that we switch rooms, I can't say that I wasn't relieved; the idea of another ghostly encounter during a midnight pee run didn't really excite me.

We had carefully excluded the adults from our gathering, waiting until they had disappeared into their respective rooms to discuss the situation. I lobbied hard for a treasure hunt, my curiosity overpowering my fear tenfold. Simon took my side immediately, his eyes flashing with excitement and the prospect of an adventure after so many boring days spent in the car.

Tori was slightly less enthusiastic in her demonstration of support, exerting great effort to gloss over the real excitement in her face with a practiced air of uncaring. With the tree of us united, we overruled Derek's foreseeable objections and set our secret rendezvous for 10:00, almost two hours away.

I filled the waiting time with moving my things to our new room and then curling up in my new bed. I decided to close my eyes for a few minutes in an attempt to mute the agony of the wait and I must have fallen asleep because the next thing I knew, a muscular hand was gently shaking me, bringing my surrounding back into focus.

"C'mon Chlo," Derek whispered. "It's later than we planned. We should go before any rooms get locked." I rolled onto my back and looked up at him and seeing that I wasn't getting up, he sat down next to me.

"You don't have to go if you don't want to," he said, his voice hopeful as he pushed some hair off of my face. He looked infinitely better than he had when we first met; his skin had cleared up almost completely and his hair was no longer the greasy, stringy mess it had once been. These pleasant changes as well as the defined muscles that now ladened his arms I attributed to the recent completion of his change and I had to admit, my boyfriend was pretty cute.

He had taken to pushing his hair to the side which meant I could see his pretty green eyes, eyes that h was now using to try to break my resolve and persuade me to stay back here while he and Simon had all the fun. I wasn't letting him get off that easily though and I let him know it, pushing his hand off of my forehead and clambering to my feet. O rubbed the sleep out of my eyes and ran my fingers through my hair.

We slipped out the door to find Tori and Simon already waiting in the hallway their frames faintly illuminated by the dim lanterns mounted on the walls. We hopped down the stairs, careful to avoid the creaky steps that we had mad note of earlier that night and into the "lobby." The receptionist that had checked us into had vacated her post, probably gone home for the night. The other guest, the quiet man that I guessed was in his mid to late forties, was sitting hunched over a book at the far corner of the room, a small reading lamp on the table beside him throwing shadows that masked his face. However, from what we could tell, he hadn't noticed us and if he had, he didn't care.

We prowled the first floor for a while were we encountered several locked doors, most of which bearing signs that warned employees only. Unable to find stairs leading to the basement which we were sure were there somewhere, we slowly worked our way up. We weren't surprised to find the majority of the guestrooms, though vacant, to be locked. On the third floor we found a unisex community bathroom. This door was happily unlocked and we scooted inside. Simon flicked on the light and we scanned the small room for any sign of photographs.

The walls were barren besides an old mirror hung precariously over the pedestal sink. The glass was loose in its oversized frame and looked like it might fall out any second so we decided not to touch it. Having found nothing, we made on last desperate attempt to find the attic.

At the very end of the dimly lit hallway was a heavy door, painted white with a sign that read storage. This too was locked. We stood congregated around the door, me growing annoyed and impatient and ready to call it a night. My own feelings were reflected in Tori's face as she glowered at me, silently blaming me for her misery seeing as this whole expedition was my idea.

"Move," she ordered, pushing past us and gripping the doorknob tightly in both hands. She gave the door a hefty push that made it shudder and shake, but it didn't open. She pushed again, this time a loud crack rang through the hallway making me jump a foot I the air and, to my delight, the door swing open. A flight of steep and ancient looking stairs hung behind it, little clouds of dust suspended above each step, steps that led to the attic.


	5. Chapter 5

Derek grunted and pushed his way to the front of the little cue that we had formed at the base of the stairs.

"I'm going first," he announced. He went uncontested. He moved upward at an aggravatingly slow pace, surveying the landscape of each individual step before finally moving onto the next.

He improved none when we reached the top, spreading his arms out, palms pressed to the walls on either side of him; creating a barrier.

"Oh, my, god!" Tori whined. "MOVE!" Derek ignored her. "M-O-V-E." Derek was listening to the attic, his face tilted upward, nostrils flaring. Tori exhaled loudly before she began to push her way forward. She squeezed past Simon and me, knocking both of our hands from the railing as she went. She ducked under Derek's arm and he let her pass, giving her a look that showed just how little cared about whatever might happen to he up there.

"Derek!" I called as lowly as I dared. We had already made so much noise that I figured it was likely that we had already aroused at least one of the other residents. "C'mon. We probably don't have much time up here as it is. Not before someone comes looking…" It took every ounce of my self control to keep from smacking him when he ignored me too.

I rolled my eyes and prepared to charge but this time Derek was waiting for it. He dropped his arm so quickly that I didn't see it until I had collided with it. His waiting hand caught me just as I lost my balance. He held me suspended above the steep staircase for a moment before he let me back down right where I'd stated. He didn't slacken his killer grip on my wrist though and I seriously considered biting his hand but Simon came to my rescue before I was be driven to such drastic measures.

"Dude!" His voice held a note of impatience and annoyance that I almost never heard from Simon. Derek turned to look at his brother. Their eyes met for a second before he made and exasperated noise and stepped forward, releasing me. Simon's hands were waiting to catch me when I lost my balance and I looked at him gratefully before straightening and taking the final few steps up to the floor.

I brushed past Derek, glairing angrily at him as I went. I tried not to notice when the look he returned gave a frighteningly strong resemblance to a wounded puppy. Simon followed my performance with a well aimed kick at the back of his brother's leg.

"Shit!" Simon yelped in pain as his foot collided with the hardened werewolf muscle. A string of more colorful profanities leaked from his lips as he hopped on one foot around the room, raising clouds of dust and agitated mice from their resting places. Derek shot a grin at me when he heard me laughing but I quickly recomposed myself, once again adopting a look of anger. He shook his head and laughed. I stuck out my tongue.

"What does he think is up here anyways?" Tori asked non to quietly as I approached her.

"Lions and Tigers and Bears! Oh my!" I chanted in response.

"More like Demons and Ghostes and Ghouls!" Simon called from across the room, launching into a fit of hysteria at his own whit.

The next hour or so was spent digging through the content of the attic, most of which looked as if it had not beet touched in years. We divvied up the work load, Tori and I taking one half ad the boys the other. My new brown hair was caked with dust and cobwebs by the time we were done. Each and every box had been removed from its place, unpacked, repacked, and replaced where we'd found them.

Tori looked exasperated, and I figured that my face probably mirrored hers pretty much to a t. Simons watch told us that it was nearly 2:00 a.m. and we were all ready to give up and go to bed. We agreed on one final sweep of the room, which proved to be as fruitless as the rest of the night's endeavors, and headed back downstairs. Simon closed the door tightly so that it looked as if it had never been opened. Tori offered to try and repair the busted lock but he shook his head.

"Just incase we need to get back up here," he explained. We traipsed back down to our respective bedrooms and said goodnight. I was still mad at Derek and I made sure to let him know it, pointedly ducking around him and into the room as he tried to kiss me goodnight. Tori sniggered and closed the door before he could follow me in. She flicked the lock behind her.

**. . . **

The next morning was dull and dreary. Aunt Lauren and Mr. Bae had decided wed stay another night. After all, how likely was it really that anything trying to kill us would think to look here, in Wheeling West Virginia? We all slept in and ate late. We then congregated in our room, nice and far away from the ghost girl still hanging herself in the boy's shower. I stretched out on my bed taking up as much room as I could so that Derek would not consider himself invited to sit with me. Tori caught on quickly and made herself comfortable beside me, affectively filling most of the remaining area.

Derek rolled his eyes and sat instead at the foot of Tori's bed while Simon lay sprawled across the rest of it, his hands folded behind his head. We talked about the previous night's adventure only briefly before Simon flicked on the TV and became quickly engrossed in the "network premiere of Saving Private Ryan, with limited commercial interruption."

This being quite far from a favorite movie of mine, I quickly excused myself. I wasn't satisfied with the results of last night so I decided to retrace the steps we'd taken. I started back down on the first floor, trying to be discrete. I went from door to door, sticking my head inside if they were open and jiggling the knobs if they proved locked. After receiving several weird looks from the Inn keeper however, I decided it was time to head upstairs.

All of the doors that had been locked yesterday were still locked today. The only difference was that the number of vacancies seed to have declined considerably. Several of the doorknobs that had been barren the night before now held those little signs that said "Do Not Disturb." Those doors I stayed away from.

The third floor was no more of a success than the second other than the same bathroom that had been unlocked the night before. I let myself in and locked the door behind me. I combed it carefully for clues; opening each and every drawer, looking in the back of the porcelain toilet and, somewhat hesitantly, behind the shower curtain. I wasn't really surprised when I found nothing but I was a little disappointed.

It was as I was about to leave that I noticed the mirror again. The glass seemed to have slipped some since the night previous and now looked even more unstable in its oversized frame. I slipped my fingers into the frame and held the glass of the mirror carefully in both hands. I slid it out of its frame slowly, bottom first, then the top.

There was something rough behind it; I could feel it against my knuckles as I removed the mirror. Excitement coursed through my body as the glass came free.

* * *

A/N: I am so sorry that this took so outragiously long to go up! i have no excuse other than that i am a lazy bumb. I promise that i will be better from now on especially since it is now summer break and i can actually set aside some writing time every day. I'v already started the next chapter so hopefully that'll be up soo. Thanks for baring with me! I love you all.


	6. Chapter 6

It suddenly made sense that the frame was so big. It was never intended for this mirror or any other. It was a picture frame, built to hold the painting that still dwelled inside of it, behind the glass, collecting dust. The painting was of two girls, the bigger one I recognized immediately as the girl still hanging herself in the bathroom downstairs. Her hair fell in neat curls around her face and over her shoulders.

The other girl was definitely her sister. They looked alike, like a lot alike. Everything about the two was identical accept for their eyes. My bathroom buddy had light irises, bluish gray and happy. Her sister was the opposite, black-eyed and stormy. She was sitting in her big sisters lap and, looking at them like that, I noticed another difference. The little one didn't look happy.

I leaned the mirror glass against the sink and tried to lift the painting off of the wall, hoping that maybe there was some kind of mark on the back that could tell me more, but it wasn't budging. I debated calling Derek for a second and then considered Tori as a second maybe better option. I decided to wait on both though; maybe I could learn a little bit more before I dragged them all the way up here.

I worked my fingers under the edge of the frame and tried to pry it free of the wall again. It wasn't even loose. I put my feet against the base of the sink for leverage and pulled harder. This time something seemed to release behind the painting. The grip of whatever held it in its place slackened and the painting came free. I fell back and my wildly flailing arms caught the mirror, pulling it down with me and the heavy picture.

It shattered, accompanied by a symphony of inkling, as we hit the floor. Glass was sent flying in every direction and it peppered my face and arms with a hundred tiny cuts. I knew I had only seconds before someone came busting in on me, alerted by the racket I had produced.

I scrambled up onto all fours as quickly as I could, brushing glass off of me as I did. I looked around frantically trying to figure out some way to conceal the disaster I had created. In a blind panic I shoved the picture behind the bath tub and tried to sweep the broken glass underneath it. Someone was running up the stairs.

I wasn't sure which would be worse, Derek or some adult finding me here. I'd be in some seriously deep shit either way. Whoever had heard me was now at the door, jiggling the knob. _Shit shit shit!_

"Is everything ok in there?" The voice on the other side was too muffled for me to be sure but, though it seemed belonged to a man, it didn't sound like Derek.

"Hello? Is anyone in there?"

"Uh, yeah, sorry!" I called back. "Give me a second." A key was being slid into the lock. _Definitely_ _not Derek, he didn't have a key_. "Hold on!" I yelled. I was disregarded, however, as the door was forced open.

One of the receptionists from the lobby was standing in the door way, his green name tag fastened to his sweater and a look of polite concern on his face. He took in the room, lingering on the little pieces of glass that I had missed at the base of the sink. His eyes swept upward then to the place on the wall that the mirror had hung. For the first time I noticed the extent of what I had done. The wall paper had been torn away from the spot, leaving a nearly perfect rectangle of exposed wall behind. The wall had been damaged too; cracked where I imagined the picture had been fastened. Little bits of drywall decorated the sink and cabinet tops all around it.

"What happened?" he asked, as strangled edge to his voice.

"I f-f-fell." I stammered. "I tried to c-catch myself and I t-t-t-took down the m-mirror. I'm s-sorry."

"Where's the frame from the mirror?" he asked looking around him.

"It f-fell behind the t-t-tub." My stupid stutter was totally giving me away. It always made me sound so guilty. The receptionist walked to the tub and pulled the picture from behind it. He looked back to me.

"How is it that this fell from above the sink there," he indicated the sink, "to here, behind the tub?' he pointed to the tub, all the way across the room.

"It s-s-slid."

"It slid? All the way, over here?" he was still standing beside the tub. He glowered down at me, his expression completely changed. I realized at that moment, maybe just a second too late that something was very wrong. "Alright," he said grabbing me by the arm and pulling me toward the door.

"W-wait!" I begged. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to break anything. I have money downstairs," I lied. "L-l-let me pay for it." A terrible fear was settling itself into the pit of my stomach as he dragged me down the stairs. " P-p-please. I can replace it. You could get a new one, one that you don't need to keep in front of some stupid old picture." I wasn't really sure why I said that but I instantly regretted it. Anger flared in the man's face and he changed his course, leading me down a shot hallway and to one of the many locked doors that we had tried to break into then night before.

For the first time I noticed just how freezing his hands were. The intense cold of his finger tips seemed to be eating away at the arm of my sweater as we approached the door and then, we passed through it.

He pulled me down the staircase that lay concealed behind it and I started to scream in earnest, preying that Derek could hear me. He clapped his lose hand over my mouth and his icy skin burned against mine. I tried to bite him, getting my teeth around his middle finger just as it lost its solidity and my teeth became lodged in my own bottom lip. His fingers rematerialized as I cried out in pain and I was once again gagged.

"Stupid little necro!" he hissed in my ear. "Haven't you figured it out yet?"

I shook my head hard. "No," was all I managed to get out from behind his fingers before be stopped before a second door.

"No? Stupid girl."

"No you cant be- I-I-I I heard you! I heard you coming up the stairs. Ghosts don't have footsteps!"

"Yes little one, ghosts don't have foot steps. But they can unlock doors or hold onto people either can they? So I suppose that means I'm not just one of your run-of-the-mill ghosts doesn't it?" He laughed coolly as he shoved us through a second door.

"You're a half-demon," I spluttered as we came through to the other side. "How are you doing this? How are you taking me through things with you?" He ignored me and continued to force me forward.

We were in a dank, dark room now, windowless and musty. This must be the basement we had been unable to find.

"What do you want from me?" I yelled in a last desperate attempt to alert Derek to my ware bouts. He grabbed me by the hair and turned my head so that I was forced to look into his cold, lifeless eyes. Then he turned me again towards the cement wall to my right and propelled my head against it.

I yelled in pain as hot sticky blood streaked down my face where it had collided with the wall. He pulled my head back again and slammed it a second time against the wall. My vision blurred and my head throbbed like a second heart was beating inside of it. As he pulled me back a third time and I braced myself for another collision and everything went black.

* * *

A/N: Hey everyone! I am not quite sure how i feel about this chapter so please please review! i would really love to hear any and all feedback! thanks for bearing with me :)


	7. Chapter 7

I woke up feeling like an elephant was taking a nap on my face. Thick, dank air filled my nose and lungs and my bruised brain was whirling at a mile a minute trying to figure out where I was. Slowly I became aware of the things around me: thick rubber cords lashed my wrists to the seat of a wobbly metal folding chair and my feet dangled several inches above the cement floor.

I forced my eyes open and was immediately assailed with the unfriendly darkness of… the basement. I was in the basement of the inn. Completely alone. My breath came harder and faster as I remembered something else. That wasn't true, I had company. An icy finger ran down the back of my neck and every muscle in my body tensed.

"Have a nice nappy little Necro?" he breathed. I clenched my teeth. "Are you ready to listen now?" I didn't answer. "Good, good," he crooned. "Quiet now, this is important. I have a little problem see. I did something _very_ bad a few years back and it got me into a little of trouble with my, employers. Turns out you can help me." His grinning face materialized inches away from my own.

"DEREK!" I screamed. ""TORI! SIMON!"

"Shut up stupid girl! I told you to listen!" Something heavy hit my across the face. He appeared right in front of me, wielding a clay flower pot and winding up for a second swing.

"Simeon!" The half-demon vanished again, sending the pot clattering to the floor. My eyes reeled, searching for the source of this new voice. Heavy foot steps suddenly filled the basement room and a second face immerged from the darkness. This one I recognized. It was the man from the lobby the day before.

"Don't bother," he offered in an uninterested voice. "Your guard dog isn't here; he's not going to help you." He was trying to trick me, I was sure of it. Derek wouldn't leave, not without Simon and their dad. Not without me. "Something about 'not being wanted' I think. Right out the front door. Hasn't been back in hours. The rest of them are still here but of course they cant here you." He raised his graying eyebrows in acknowledgement of my obvious discomfort. "Hmm. Don't worry Chloe, we'll find him, he's part of the package just as much as you are."

For the first time his face betrayed the slightest bit of emotion; amusement I thought. "What _package_?"

Simeon the half-demon reappeared once again, though this time it was only his face. "My business associate," he informed me, jerking his disembodied head towards the second and definitely living man. He spat on the ground several feet to the right of where Simeon actually hovered.

"Your effing night in shining armor," he corrected, his mouth twisting into an annoyed grimace. "And I've done nothing but regret it since."

"Hey now," Simeon cooed. "I brought you the Necro!" He vanished and reappeared beside me, shaking imaginary spit from his shoes and grinning wildly, clearly pleased with his accomplishment.

The man's eyes raked through the air, searching for his apparently invisible tormentor. "You did," he conceded after a minute. "Not that I couldn't have done it myself." Simeon cleared his throat.

I looked from man to man, confusion momentarily competing with terror for the center stage position in my still throbbing head. "Wait," I mumbled. "You can't see him, so why can you hear him? You can't be a-"

"No," he interjected. "I'm not. Not a _full_ necromancer at least." I hadn't thought it would be possible but suddenly I was even more confused. A _full_ Necromancer? What the hell was a _half_ necromancer? "We're half breads," he said, once more reverting to that nonchalant tone. "An experiment gone wrong if you will, my sisters an I. You know all about that sort of thing though don't you?"

His smile seemed a little bit rueful as he pressed on. "Our mother was a Necromancer –much like yourself if not as, powerful- and Dad was a Telekinetic. Apparently a problematic combination, seeing as I'm the only one left." His carefree physique faltered slightly. "We were 'genetically enhanced,' all of us. I was the youngest so I guess they had the most experience when they finally set in on me. Real visionaries those people. Great at learning from their mistakes so they don't seem to feel the need for preemptive research, regardless of how many people their arrogance may hurt."

He had to be talking about the Edison Group. How many other local organizations could there be that specialized in genetic modification and exploitation of the Supernatural? I wasn't about to ask now though. I had a feeling that this story could give me a lot of answers and that if I interrupted now, I might not get to hear them all.

"My youngest sister, Kathleen, was the anomaly. She seemed to have gotten a large enough dosage of both of our parents special DNA to make her more than capable at both telekinesis and Necromancy. They had been so pleased with her that they didn't notice that they'd created a monster until she was six years old. And that's when they took her away.

"She'd always been closest with Miriam, the oldest. She much raised us both. When they took Kathy away, it wasn't long before she hanged herself from the shower rod." His eyes were unfocussed now, but still not tearful. Then, he smiled. My heart stopped for a second, petrified by the terrible cruelty on his face.

"It's ironic no? Now I'm going to hand you and your _freak_ band right to those same people that killed my sisters."

"Freakssss," Simeon hissed right beside my ear.

"Your just like us!" I whispered indignantly. "I'm no more of a freak than you!" I'd felt bad for him while he monologued, but even a sob story as pathetic as his wasn't going to keep my anger and annoyance at bay for long. Or, for that matter, my fear as his eyes probed my face like an animal of prey. He was laughing now.

"Maybe," he said dismissively. "So, here's the deal little one. You're gona tell me everything that happened at head quarters and you're going to tell me everything that wasn't on record about your palls. Capability, mental 'stability' and capacity; everything."

"_Don't! He's a bounty hunter!" He works for the Edison Group!_ I wasn't sure if the voice was in my head or beside it. The way my life had been lately, the possibilities for what could have been talking to me where endless. It wasn't Simeon though. A girl. Probably just my conscience.

"And what if I don't?" I asked, feeling the sudden need for a show of bravado. He had clearly been hoping for this response. He flashed me another awful smile.

"Chloe. Saunders, Chloe. Your file was pretty complete, pretty straight forward. Nice and simple. Diagnosed schizophrenic am I right?" I didn't answer and didn't really think I had to, seeing as he knew very well I wasn't.

"Chloe, did you know that shock therapy used to be one of the most widely used techniques in the treatment of schizophrenia? Said to be quite effective too." He nudged with his toe the cord that ran down from my wrists to the floor and for the first time I noticed how hot it was. I looked down at it, hoping that maybe I could find a weakness in the binding but instead I saw that each cord had been cut and each exposed end taped to the metal chair legs beneath my well-secured palms.

"_Chloe no!"_ the voice warned again. Hmm, maybe I really was schizophrenic.

"Shit" I swore under my breath. His smile didn't falter.

"So," he pressed on. " I was thinking that maybe I you are having trouble, recalling, the information I need, well maybe it could help you out to remember." I had to think fast now. It was becoming pretty clear that he'd been telling me the truth and that no one was coming to help me. Derek really must be gone or he would have come by now.

"Your sisters," I began. "They're the girls in the painting."

"Yes, yes. Which, I understand you so rudely removed from its resting place. That's kind of your thing huh? Disturbing things that really shouldn't be disturbed?" So he was distractible, that was good at least.

"You used to live here, before it was an inn." I took his grimace as confirmation.

"And what is _his_ deal? What's _his_ stake in this?" I jerked my head toward the place where Simeon had last stood. He took my bait and I let myself breath again, but quietly.

"He's trying to _redeem_ himself. He was supposed to be our nanny." The man laughed. "His job was to watch us in our natural habitat; to make sure we progressed as we were supposed to. Obviously, he failed, miserably. They had to come take her away themselves and he paid for it."

"More dearly than you can imagine," Simeon whispered from somewhere off to my left.

"They stuck what was left of him here when they were done so that he could at least still keep and eye on me. Not that he was any more useful to anyone dead than he was alive. But now, I've so kindly presented him with a chance to make up for his previous mediocrity and earn back his right to pass on."

"Great," I muttered. "Well, you have fun in Hell." A plank of plywood flew off of a table a few feet from where I was seated and smacked me across the chest. The breath flew out of my lungs as the board cracked against my ribs a second time.

"Simeon!" The man yelled, no longer making any attempt to conceal his annoyance. The board hit the floor and Simeon materialized behind him. The man brandished an electrical strip in one hand. He yanked on it and the two wires that ran from it became taut. The bonds on my wrists tightened. In my head I ran through every curse word I knew. He flipped the little switch to "Low" and a light went on. My palms began to burn and them my arms.

My whole body felt like it was on fire. A little string of saliva ran down my chin and my entire body convulsed and spasmed. Liquid flame coursed through my veins and it took every ounce of my self control not to scream. Somewhere in my only barely conscious mind I knew that if the Simon or Tori heard me and came they'd be in just as much trouble as I was.

He flipped the switch back to off and my body lay lip, sprawled across the still burning chair. "Are you ready to cooperate yet?" he asked. His eyes were ablaze with the delight clearly brought on by my agony.

"_No Chloe."_ I tried to lift my head toward the sound that I was now positive wasn't in my head but my neck wasn't cooperating. My head just kind of lolled to the side. _"Shhh,"_ she warned. I shook my head.

"No?" he asked, his eyebrows raised. "So that's how you wana play it?" He was still smiling at me as he flipped the switch again, this time to "High."

My back arched and my legs shot out straight in front of me. This time I couldn't help it. I screamed louder than I though I could given my weakened state. The pain was unbearable. I couldn't breath, I couldn't swallow. More drool spilled over my chin and onto my shirt and even though I knew I shouldn't, I wished with every ounce of energy still left in my dilapidated body that Derek or Simon or Tori could hear me.

It came just as I was slipping back into the blackness of unconsciousness; the flash of blond hair and giraffe socks that followed me as I fell once more into the abyss.

* * *

A/N: Ok guys, please be brutally honnest with me about this one. Was the monologuing bounty hunter a little too much? I really had no idea where to take this story after my last post so after days of fruitless deliboration, i just kinda sat down and wrote whatever came to mind. Please review and let me know what you think! You've all been really amazingg about that in the past. I got some awsome reviews last time from a bunch of you and i want to let you know how much all of your support means to me. it is incredibly encourraging! Also, the idea of Derek being absent here was not really mine. It was suggested to me by one of you lovely people and i thought it was great! though i wont promise to use them all, please dont hesitate to make suggestions or share your ideas about what should happen next with me. The imput of anyone who wishes to give it will always be greatly appreciated. Thanks for reading!


	8. Chapter 8

I lingered on the edge of consciousness, my mind slipping in and out of the blackness for an immeasurable length of time. I was only vaguely aware that the cables had been unplugged. It was from a distance that I saw a second folding chair fly through the air and collide with the back of the man's head, his body crumpling to the floor. The slight form of Liz appeared above him, wielding the chair like a club.

**. . .**

Next thing I knew the basement door was being busted off its hinges, splintered wood flying in every direction. Through my heavy eyelids I could just barely find Tori who stood behind the wreckage, fingertips glowing a menacing purple and Aunt Lauren on her heels.

**. . .**

Simeon was there, hurling anything and everything he could get his hands on at no one in particular. A hammer shot through Liz's stomach and an aluminum clipped Tori in the face, drawing a thin line of blood from just below her eye. The man was stirring on the floor. Liz hit him again, hard enough this time that with a moan of protest, the metal of the seat bent to the shape of his head.

**. . .**

A rusted pipe nailed me in the face, calling me back to awareness again. The lid of an old-fashioned grill whizzed past Aunt Lauren. In that second, my exhausted mind began to comprehend what I had to do. I squeezed my eyes closed and focused on Simeon's face. I pushed against that image with all the force I could muster and slowly, it began to move away from me.

"What are you _doing_ to me?" he wailed from somewhere across the room. "STOP!" The image in my head was slowly becoming more solid. I reached out with imaginary hands and gave him a shove. "STOP! _STOP_!" he screeched. I pushed harder. "NO!" he yelled as he began to slip away. One more good push. His face flew away from me and was swallowed by darkness as it broke through the fabric that separated the living and the dead.

All around me things clattered to the floor, no longer suspended by Simeon's power and I slipped back under.

**. . .**

I was outside, cool spring air whipping against my face and a set of thin arms holding me up. I couldn't feel anything from the waist down but a buzzing sensation where my body should have been. Tori flipped closed her cell phone and struggled to balance my weight while she shoved it back into her pocket. Then Aunt Lauren was beside me, sharing my weight with Tori. She had brought our bags down.

**. . .**

Then I was in the back seat of the van, my body bumping gently along with the unevenness of the road. Someone had folded the back of the seat down so that the it was level with the bench like a bed.

My eyes flickered open. Tori was nursing several small gashes and what looked to be a broken finger beside Simon in the middle row. He sat angled in seat so that his back was to her, his pressed against the widow glass. Aunt Lauren and Mr. Bae were sitting in the front seats arguing quietly.

"We have to take her to a hospital!" Aunt Lauren whispered.

"And what exactly do you propose we tell them?" Mr. Bae retorted. "That she slipped and hit her face and then decided to try to pull herself back up by gabbing onto two live wires?" She rolled her eyes.

"I don't know! But there could be serious internal damage! More than I can assess without the proper equipment. Her organs could be fried! She could go into shock!"

"Just, you did what you could. That will have to be enough."

"All I could do was treat the burns!"

"Lauren, we can't take her to a hospital. She's a missing child! She's got her face plastered all over every bulletin board and telephone in every major city in the Tri-state area."

"We're in Virginia Kit."

"We don't know how far they might have reached." Aunt Lauren exhaled.

"And what about Tori?" Hmm, an interesting new angle. "I've never seen someone exposed to that much rusty metal! Do you know what a high risk she's at for Tetanus? She needs a booster." Mr. Bae's resolve faltered for a second.

"No. It's too risky" he finally said. "I'd say its pretty safe to guess that the Edison Groups leaked some bull shit story by now that we all have something to do with Chloes disappearance. I don't want to risk exposing any of the kids to the public eye. If she shows symptoms well bring her into a clinic.

"Ah, so Tori can go to a doctor but Chloe…"

"Lauren, it isn't safe for her."

I cringed at the truth of his words. I too was almost certain that the surviving members of Edison Group had named my companions as just that, maybe even claiming them to be accomplices in my "kidnapping." It was because of me that Tori couldn't get the medical attention that she needed. Then with a pang I realized that it was also because of me that Derek still wasn't back.

I sat up too quickly and my fuzzy head whirled. I reached out both hands to brace myself on my makeshift bed before I could fall back. That was a mistake. A searing pain shot from both of my palms up my arms and into my shoulder. My shocked gasp was louder than I'd meant it to be. I tore my bandaged hands away as every eye in the car turned towards me. I smiled warily back at them.

"Oh Chloe. Thank God, I was so worried." Aunt Lauren's return smile was hollow and worried. Like she expected me to collapse again at any second. "Sweetpea, why don't you lay back down? You're still looking a little bit peaky."

"Where are we?" I asked. "Is every one ok?"

"We're in Lexington Virginia Chloe. Everyone's fine. The question is are you? How are you feeling?" Mr. Bae glanced back at me for a second, trying to gage for himself the answer to his question.

"Derek-" I found myself unable to finish the sentence.

"Is alright." Mr. Bae assured me.

"Did you talk to him?" I asked. Silence. I decided to take that as a no.

"How is he going to know where we are? How is he going to be able to find us?" I felt horribly guilty. I reached up to push my hair out of my eyes and winced. Shit. Even that hurt. Aunt Lauren gasped.

"Chloe! Your hands!" I looked down at my bloody bandages. Oops.

"Kit, pull over." The car glided into the break down lane and Aunt Lauren, first aid kit in hand, climbed over to the back seat. She sat down beside me and took both of my hands in hers, surveying the damage. We started to move again as she unwrapped the gauze. "Ooh," she said, wincing sympathetically. Two perfect circles were emblazoned into both of my palms. The skin around them pulsated with its own tiny heart beat and burned a fiery, infected red. Fresh tares pussed and bled around the original wound.

"Ow," I breathed and she patted them clean with disinfectant-drenched gauze pads. She frowned and muttered her disapproval under her breath. Simon had gone back to staring out into the dark woods that lined the high way. I guessed he was probably looking for his brother but so far, the search seemed to be unfruitful. Tori was pointedly ignoring the rest of us, staring into the back of the seat in front of her as if examining a great work of art.

We drove another hour or so and then stopped at another motel. The adults dubbed it safe seeing as the only staff member was an elderly woman that we weren't totally convinced could even completely see us. She gave us rooms on the second floor and as we walked to them at 2 a.m., I couldn't help but feel that this was one of those places that hookers and drug dealers like to do their business. Strangely enough though, I felt safer here than I had in days.

We did out usual division, boys in one room and girls in the other. I called Derek's cell once from the bathroom and then again from my bed. He didn't answer. After my six and a half hour nap today I couldn't sleep and that gave me plenty of time to worry about him. I lay flat on my back for ours, my body so sore still that tossing and turning was defiantly out of the question.

It was when the sun had finally begun to shine through the chap blinds of the little room that I heard the door open and heavy footsteps padding over to my bed. I didn't turn to look for the perpetrator because I didn't have to.

Derek sat down next to me, making the mattress sag a little. He slid the cell phone out of my hand and laid it on the bed side table beside my head.

"Do Simon and your dad know you're back?" I asked. H nodded.

"I stopped over there first. I though maybe I'd take a shower before I climbed into your bed," he joked. "I was kinda dirty."

"What happened to you?"

"I changed again. It's getting kind of inconvenient." His teasing smile faded. "When I was able to change back I saw all the voicemails." He took my hands in his and examined the bandaging and bit his lip. "Chlo I'm-"

"How did you find us?" I asked, cutting him off before he could apologize for not coming to my rescue.

"I called my dad."

"Oh."

"Chloe, I'm so sorry. I never should have left you guys. This is my fault."

"Don't," I warned. "Just don't even start. We both know that this is my fault. It's my fault you got mad and it's my fault that I got caught alone and off my guard. Not yours."

He looked at me for a second, his expression a mix of annoyance and relief, each battling for dominance. Eventually relief won and smiling a little bit, he climbed into the bed with me. He wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me in close against his muscly chest.

"Go to sleep," he instructed. We'll discuss this some more in the morning."

"No we won't," I muttered groggily, closing my eyes. All of the sudden the exhaustion I'd been waiting for hit me like a ton of bricks. He kissed me on the forehead and finally, I slipped off to sleep.

* * *

A/N: Yay lots of updating this weekend! i just couldnt bare to not know what happened next and since i never really know whats comming until i sit down and write it out, that was the only solution. As usual, i'd love to know what you all think and this time, if anyone has any ideas where in the country they should head next please dont hesitate to suggest them! I was thinking something along the lines of heading towars virginia beach or ft. lauderdale to try and get lost in the spring breakers. What better cover could there be than a bunch of drunk college kids? Any ways let me know what you think! Thanks for reading!


	9. Chapter 9

I was in trouble. My sleepover guest last night hadn't passed unnoticed. Aunt Lauren, who had woken before Derek had made a get away, had kindly agreed to not tell his dad if I conceded to whatever form of punishment she saw fit. When I'd agreed, I had never dreamed that that punishment would be anything like as cruel as it was. What was this punishment you may ask? Here's a hint: she'd been sitting next to me since we left the motel eight and a half hours ago.

My backseat bed had been sacrificed to provide extra seating now that Derek was back and I was currently sharing that space with Tori. She knew exactly why we were sitting together and she thought it was absolutely hilarious. I had started to wonder if Aunt Lauren was paying her for every time she sniggered at me. Shed be loaded by now.

I pulled my backpack out from under the seat and plunged my hand in up to my elbow, fishing around for something I knew was in there somewhere. My hand brushed across my polyester pj pants and my only change of clothes and then it closed around the notepad I'd nicked from one of the motel nightstands. I pulled it out along with its matching pen, stuffed my bag between my knees and turned my body so that back was to Tori.

I'd started working on my movie again, scribbling down the events of my real life as if they were a screen play. Mr. Bae thought it was a great way for me to "put things into perspective," whatever that meant. The perspective I had gained was that my life was like a really bad horror movie. Like one of those weirdo cult movies that make it big with the kids that dye their hair six different colors and have like eleven nose piercings. Oh and they wear the fake fangs all the time. Hmm, it was good to know that my life was going somewhere.

I wrote until it got too dark to see my paper. We were about 20 minutes out of Virginia Beach when we stopped for dinner at a Burger King. The entire town was packed with college kids and I suddenly understood why we'd come here. We could disappear. The adults were going to have to pretend they weren't with us if we were really going to blend in with the spring breakers but I didn't see that actually happening. At the very least maybe they'd give us some space.

Living once more under their supervision had been really weird, especially because things had changed so quickly. We'd been on our own, careful not to trust anyone but each other and now we were squirming like ants under a magnifying glass. Its not that we didn't trust them because we did, and it's not like we weren't glad to have them with us because we were, it was just weird.

I shared my concerns with Simon and Derek. We all knew that a bunch of teenagers with two adults that could be their parents would be conspicuous. "I'll talk to dad," Simon promised. "See what I can do."

We got our usual two rooms at brightest and most crowded hotel we could find but I guess Simons talk with his father because we divvied them up a little differently. Mr. Bae and Aunt Lauren took one room and the rest of us took the one beside theirs. "Make sure that door is locked and your phones are ALWAYS on," Mr. Bae instructed. I want to be able to reach you at all times." We all agreed and turned I for the night.

**. . .**

In the morning we reached the general consensus that we could stay here a day or two and relax. Aunt Lauren wanted to take me into a free clinic and get checked out as long as we were here. "I'd be willing to bet money that you won't be the first electrocuted kid they've seen this week," she told me. They probably have a whole burns unit set up. You'll just need to get your story straight because I can also guarantee you that there are gona be police officers there asking questions."

"Fine, it was a dare," I told her. "They can't arrest someone for daring me to put my hands on an outlet can they?"

"No I don't think so," Mr. Bae conceded. "Just don't tell them you were drunk because you don't have an ID."

"Yeah actually I've been thinking that maybe we should get on that," Simon piped up. "I bet this place is swarming with people that'll make them for us. All of us."

"Fine," he agreed.

We waited till late afternoon and then headed into the down and the hub of the action. We scoped out one of the more sketchy bars and Derek and his dad went inside.

"Wait here," Derek told us. "We'll just be a sec."

"Hold up, you're going in without us?" Tori interjected.

"You wana try to pass as a 21 year old? Be my guest. They won't let you in," Derek called over his shoulder, chuckling loudly as he pulled open the door.

"Bite me pup!" He ignored her and disappeared into the smoky room beyond. Simon laughed and leaned against the wall. He was cute, I had to give him that, and, looking over at Tori, I had to wonder if maybe she was still thinking the same thing. Yuck. Someone had to tell her sooner or later. I knew her well enough to know that she'd want to know and not only because she'd been crushing on her brother. I was kind of hoping that maybe once she realized that her real father didn't think she was a total freak she would be a little bit nicer. Probably not though, I had a feeling that her issues were rooted a lot deeper.

They came out 15 minutes later, their expressions unrevealing. "C'mon," Derek said, wrapping an arm around my shoulders and towing me back down the street.

"We're going to CVS," I heard Mr. Bae explaining behind me.

"Why?" I asked Derek.

"We need a camera."

"Okay?" He didn't elaborate. He bought a disposable camera and made us each accost it in front the white wall outside the store. Then he went back in and had the pictures developed while we grabbed dinner at a pizza place down the street. After we ate and retrieved the products of Derek's photo shoot, Mr. Bae suggested we head back to the hotel.

"Derek and I will go finish up at the bar and meet to back there a little later." Simon joined Tori in her protests this time, unhappy to be left out of the action again. His dad clapped a hand on his back. "Don't worry about it Son," he promised. "You're not missing out on much." Tori rolled her eyes.

"Mhmm."

"Shut up Tori," Derek growled. I touched his arm warningly and Simon raised a hand to aid my efforts.

"Woah now, lets not fight children," he chided, his usual impish grin returning to his face. "We have to stay united against my dad here!"

"Well go unite against me back at the hotel." He grinned at his son. Tori grunted and started to walk away with a dismissive wave over her shoulder to the rest of us, still congregated outside of the drugstore. Some creep wolf whistled from across the street she flipped him off.

"Hey sweetheart, cool it!" he called. "You're cute but I was talking to your friend."

"That's what Neanderthals call talking?" she yelled back.

"Tori," Aunt Lauren warned.

"So how bout it beautiful? What do you say we ditch the football player and I'll show you what a real good time is?" A gentle breeze picked up and tickled my nose, soaking me with the greasy stench of the fast food strip across the street, and I felt Derek stiffen under my hand.

"She's not interested," he growled.

"You let him talk for you baby?"

"I'm n-not interested," I confirmed. Derek had begun to shake. It wouldn't have been noticeable to anyone who wasn't touching him; just little tremors that wracked his whole body. Something was wrong. I dug my fingertips into his arm, telling him I could hear him but it didn't seem to make any difference. I could feel his skin heating up now.

"Dad, I wana keep them with us," he whispered as a second man joined the one across the street. Mr. Bae didn't ask any questions. Just nodded and motioned for us to follow him back to the bar. It looked different now than it had during the day. Neon beer signs lit up the windows and several young women in very revealing shirts stood by the door, ushering in potential clientele. I shot Derek a meaningful look but he didn't seem to notice. He was still glancing over his shoulder and the men behind us, teeth slightly bared and jaw taut.

"Lets just do this and leave, ok?" he asked no one in particular. Something was definitely wrong. "You think you can go in without me?" This time he addressed his father.

"Sure. But Derek, what's the problem?" He looked worried.

"I'm being paranoid. Just, please…" he let his sentence dissipate and Mr. Bae nodded and walked toward the women that guarded the door. He was gone a while, maybe half an hour, maybe more. The men across the street went into the pizza restaurant we had just left and sat down at a booth by the widow. Every now and then they'd glance in our direction, their expressions almost jeering. Derek never relinquished his grip on my arm, shifting to a stance that more or less blocked Simon and me from view of the window across the way.

The two men were joined by a third about 10 minutes after Mr. Bae had gone inside, and a fourth just moments later. As their group grew though, they seemed to become less and less interested in ours. The time eventually came when they stopped checking on us all together and Derek traded in his fervent shaking for a nervous leg bounce.

By the time Mr. Bae finally rejoined us Derek looked about ready to explode. The sun had disappeared completely and the entire street was now ablaze with neon bar signs and street lights. People had begun to fill it too; adding to the general buzz of the lights and making me feel a little less uneasy. Whatever it was that had Derek's Spidey sense tingling somehow seemed less threatening once we were surrounded by people that could make us invisible. After all, wasn't that the reason we'd come to this place?

This however, didn't have the same calming affect on Derek as it did on me. He hurried us along, rushing his dad through the distribution of our fake IDs and no less than propelling us back up the street towards our hotel.

"Ok, when we get back Dad, you go check us out and we'll get the stuff." Derek issued this command like a proclamation, assuming he wouldn't be contested but of course he was wrong.

"What?" Tori demanded? "You want us to leave _town_? Just because some skeevy asshole was checking Chloe out?"

"Well what did you think I meant when I said 'lets do this and _leave_?'" he asked, clearly annoyed.

"Uh… what any normal person would think your meant? Leave as is leave _here _and go back to the hotel where we have warm cozy beds to sleep in? And cable TV?" Derek rolled his eyes.

"Well you got it wrong. We need to go."

"Woah," Mr. Bae interjected. "Derek, don't you think that maybe Tori's right? Aren't you maybe overreacting a little bit? They're not going to follow us back to the hotel and no body got hurt."

"They were jerks," Aunt Lauren added. "But harmless." Derek shook his head.

"Wrong." He muttered as the door across the street swung open and the now four men immerged back onto the street.

Just as they did a few things happened at once: The breeze picked u again but this time coming from behind us, tousling the hair on the back of my head. The man that stood closest to us lifted his face, his shoulders rising and falling as he took a deep breath, inhaling the new air that had blown from our side to theirs. Three other faced whipped around to stare at us, their eyes burning with anger and Derek shifted again, this time to a protective crouch, his entire body shaking.

Finally, he relinquished his hold on me before breathing one final command.

"Run!

* * *

A/N: Im sorry Im sorry Im sorry Im sorry! I am a horrible person for keeping you all waiting so long but i honnestly did have writers block! I knew i wanted them to head to virginia beach but i had not clue what would happen once they got there. I toyed with the idea of having Chloe write this chapter as a screan play since she is doing that any way. What would you all think about that? I was about to ask you guys for help when last night i actually dreamed this chapter into existance (finally!). so naturally i had to type it up as soon as possible. So here you are!

Anyways, I got really into this chapter so it is a little bit longer than my usual and i hope that makes up for it a tiny little bit at least. Also since i was so into it (and for once know exactly what is going to happen next!) the next chapter shouldnt take tooooo long to appear. The only thing is that i am going away with my aunt and little cousin for a week to a hotel that, though they claim it has wifi, im not entirely sure does. If that becomes the case i will not be able to update again until next monday :( unless i mannage to do it from the train. hmmmm thats an idea! Well as usual, please R&R and let me know what you all think. Any and ALL ideas and suggestions would be appreciated and taken into serious considderation. I love hearing from you guys and i really do think that your contributions (as well as your wonderfully motivaiting reviews) make this story a million times better than it would be if it was just me.

Thanks for reading!


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